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Laser cutter, Part V: air assist
Apr. 17th, 2011 10:38 pmA worry with the laser cutter is fumes from the cutting condensing on the focussing lense, leading to all sorts of badness. Additionally, cutting materials like acrylic is improved by having an air stream to blow the melted plastic away. Accordingly, I decided to add air assist to the laser cutter. In short, this consists of adding a nozzle to the cutting head, and running an air line to it. Lindsay Wilson did a similar modification.
( First, I had some shopping to do ) Since the new head will require a new mirror bracket, and another method to hold objects to be cut at the correct height, I haven't yet given the new air assist system a tryout. I'll need to realign the optics once the new mirror mount is fabricated and installed, then I can give the new air assist system a test drive.
